Monday Morning Coffee column where we talk about some of what happened in our world of motocross over the weekend, and usually more…
By Billy Rainford
Thanks to my last-minute co-pilot, Jeff Ward, I managed to roll into the driveway at home at around 4:30am this morning. It was great to be able to get a few things posted up while Jeff took one of his long shifts behind the wheel as we made our way from Motocross Deschambault to both Woodstock and then London, Ontario.
I remember the days when Jame Lissimore and I’d be criss-crossing the country doing this and we were so blown away the first time he was able to search for something online while we drove down the highway. It only worked some of the time and it likely cost a fortune to use any date like that, but it was a huge step forward.
Now, I can just sit there and upload videos to YouTube as the miles fade away into the rearview mirror. What a time to be alive!
Normally, I’d have driven a while before pulling over to put up results and make a few Instagram posts of things I didn’t have time to do during the actual race day. It would also mean that I’d have pulled over at a truck stop somewhere along the way, crawled into the back of the van, and slept for 5-7 hours before continuing my drive that would have likely lasted until sometime late this afternoon.
The only problem with doing the drive straight through is that you don’t get to bed until 5:00am and that means Monday Morning Coffee gets started and finished late. Sorry about that. I slept until 11 and my dog needed some attention before I could sit at my desk and get to work.
I managed to get my MTB Loop of MX Deschambault uploaded to YouTube as we drove last night. I knew I’d never be able to ride my bike around the track, so I asked Stephane Plasse and Christian Plasse if I could borrow their Talaria electric bike and they said, “Sure!“
Yes, that was a cheater loop, I know that. There’s a chance I could have made it on an electric-assist MTB but when the option came up to ride a fully-powered bike, let’s just say that I jumped at it.
These things are a blast to ride! They’re fast enough to get the rush of moto but not so fast that you think you’re going to whiskey-throttle and jump into the trees. I really enjoyed it and would love to put a couple more safety pieces on a go for a lap at pace.
Anyway, the bottom line is that I haven’t completed a single lap of a National Track on just human power yet this summer. My last chance will be in a couple weeks at Walton Raceway. Depending on how deep they work the track, I think I can close the deal there, but I feel like I’ve said that before…
Here’s a look at the results from Deschambault in the Premix and WMX classes with a little blurb about each class:
FXR PreMix
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Overall
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They never did an overall points podium because not everyone was there. The big news heading into this week was that MX Deschambault was bringing one of the most exciting 125 2-stroke riders of all-time to the event for some fun.
#613 Jimmy Decotis made the trip with his Canadian wife Jamie and the crowd was into it. Unfortunately, crashes kept us from getting the head-to-head battle we were looking for between Jimmy and Sam Gaynor, but Sam was on it and made passes to get himself to the front and took the win to complete his undefeated series.
I was talking to someone about where this class is headed. It seems we aren’t really sure if it’s a class for young kids getting their feet wet or for old pro riders who want to come out and have some fun again. They told me that it’s both. Pro riders get to race fun bikes and young up-and-comers get the chance to race on Pro Day in front of a big crowd against some seasoned riders on a rough Pro Day track. I guess that makes sense.
Unfortunately, we had a red flag situation after young #67 Cooper Wallis went down and then got hit by another rider. As they took him to get fixed up, I was told that it was a left femur situation. We’re wishing Cooper all the best getting all sorted out.
The crashes Jimmy took were pretty spectacular! He smashed his bike up badly in the first moto after not one but 2 falls. The second left him riding a bike that looked like Ricky Carmichael in his Honda years.
Sam crashed too and still managed to pull off another 1-1 weekend to take the title without a blemish. Next up for him, a battle with Marvin Musquin in the East/West Shootout at Walton in a couple weeks. It’s definitely not going to get any easier for Sam!
#61 Ben Mistelbacher had a solid week at the ECAN and came out firing to take 2nd overall at the final round. It was great to see the emotion flowing from his dad as he recorded the moment on his phone.
The series podium ended up like this:
- 1 Sam Gaynor GAS 200
- 226 Jonathan Bergeron YAM 154
- 327 Brandon Gourlay TM 116
WMX East
This was Eve Brodeur‘s final season chasing the WMX Nationals. This was her day to clinch another title in front of her home crowd in Quebec. Jamie Astudillo from Pennsylvania came in with a 4-point lead. Eve won the first moto to bring it down to a winner-take-all 2nd moto. The stage was set for a battle!
The two were together early in the race but Eve made a mistake on lap 3 in a tricky section and the gap grew to over 10 seconds.
At the flag, Jamie took the win and the championship by 4 points with a 4-second lead. She managed to make it even more stressful for herself by stalling the bike on the last lap, but it didn’t matter because she still crossed the line to take her first Canadian WMX title against the best to ever do it here in Canada.
Surprisingly, the obviously partisan crowd was kind to Jamie on the podium during her speech. Eve was up first and gave a very classy, heart-felt speech to the crowd and her team. It was a great moment in our sport and I wish there were captions at the bottom of the screen as she spoke.
#3 Kaylie Kayer was 3rd again. She is the likely heir to the Canadian throne as she and #7 Katrine Ferguson seemed to be the next quickest Canucks out there. Speaking of Katrine, I looked and she was down and in last place at the bginning of the 2nd moto and then she was all of a sudden battling for top 5! She must have put in a lights out lap!
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I’m not going to get into the Pro races here in the MMC. There was a protest made by the KTM Canada team against #300 Drew Adams for being shown a pit board in an area not intended for mechanics. I just messaged back and forth with Daryl Murphy and he promised to let me know when an official statement or ruling has been made, so watch for that.
The ruling is in. Here is the official word:
So, this means we’re heading into the final round of 250 Pro Am competition with 2-time champion #26 Kaven Benoit having an 8-point lead over #300 Drew Adams.
Considering the lead duo was 1:13 ahead of 3rd in moto 1 and 1:05 ahead in moto 2, Kaven could rider backwards, take 2-2 motos to Drew’s 1-1 and still win this title by 2 points.
I spoke to Kaven about that strategy in my Race Tech Walk and Talk and he said he’s going out there to win races not get 2nds.
Also, heard behind the stage at the podium was Drew’s dad talking to someone on the phone and saying they need to bring someone up for Walton who can beat Kaven and get between the two of them. Ooh, the drama!
Drew also said on the podium that there will be no friends on the track at Walton, so you should make plans to be there in 2 weeks.
Drew is down competing at Loretta Lynn’s this week.
Race coverage starts live on Racer TV on Tuesday:
OK, I still haven’t had anything to eat, so I’m going to leave it here. I’ll get to work and have the Walk and Talk up first and then head to the FXR Race Highlights video right after that.
Have a great week, everyone.
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